Live!

Who: Jann Klose, Merchants of Cool When: 6 p.m. Saturday Where: Fairfax Corner

The Merchants of Cool, playing classic rock favorites from the '60s, '70s and '80s, headline a free show at Fairfax Corner this holiday weekend. The group has supported several well-known acts, including the Charlie Daniels Band, the Smithereens and .38 Special, and has learned the tricks to keep a crowd rocking.

Be sure to arrive in time to catch the opening set by singer-songwriter Jann Klose, whose multicultural upbringing -- he was born in Germany, grew up in Africa and has lived in New York -- seeps into a global pop sound that draws comparisons to Sting and Jacques Brel.

"I grew up hearing African rhythms, and that always makes me feel something very strong," he said.

Yet on his new album, "Reverie," such rhythmic influences aren't obvious. "I think the reason that it doesn't stick out," he said, "is because I don't want it to. I don't feel that the music needs that. My bass player has learned to play the kora, an African instrument, not because I have African roots but because he likes the sound of it . . . I don't really care where sounds are from. If they're interesting to me, if they fit with the song, then I want to use them."

At 16, Klose encountered another cultural shift. As an exchange student, he moved to Cleveland, where he attended high school, performed in a choir and was encouraged to pursue his musical aspirations.

"Coming to Cleveland was like a liberation for me," he said. "I was coming out of growing up with my grandparents raising me because my parents were divorced, and they were very strict with me. I wanted to learn an instrument when I was 8, but they just didn't support that kind of thing. The family that I was staying with, whom I'm still very close to, was totally supportive of anything I wanted to do. 'You wanna buy a keyboard? Yeah, go ahead.' "

After high school, Klose returned to Germany to fulfill mandatory civil service, but he returned to Ohio, where he sang in the Cleveland Opera Chorus and released two CDs on local label G21 Records -- 1997's "Enough Said," and 1999's "The Strangest Thing." In 2000, he moved to New York and found work in the national touring company of "Jekyll & Hyde" and the European tour of "Jesus Christ Superstar."

He combined his creative ambitions in a short-run 2005 off-Broadway production, "Moonlight Interior," in which his music was accompanied by the work of choreographer Yo-el Cassell. Some of the songs for that show were drawn from Klose's 2003 release, "Black Box EP," and others were new tunes, some of which wound up on "Reverie."

Klose has returned to Germany periodically for shows and is about to embark on his first official tour to the United Kingdom. When he returns, he'll share a stage with Renaissance lead singer Annie Haslam at a show in September.

Working with a full band in a live performance allows for unusual arrangements featuring Portuguese guitar, oboe, flugelhorn and violin.

But Klose is also comfortable playing solo, duo, trio -- any setting that works for the budget and logistics that present themselves. "I don't mind doing it in different formations," he said. "It all centers around the song."

For the Fairfax Corner show, Klose is planning a duo set with his longtime bass player Chris Marolf. He said he realizes that not everyone who wanders by the plaza will be there to hear his music, but he'll make it work.